What is a pre-indictment hearing?

The hearing is set out in section 60a of the Criminal Procedure Law. It is available in felony cases, after the notice letter, to anyone who requested it within 30 days. It takes place before the prosecutor handling the file or a more senior official, sometimes in writing only and sometimes also in a meeting. There is no judge, no witnesses, and no cross-examination.

Before the hearing you receive the "summary of the evidence": an outline of the investigation material the prosecution intends to rely on, under Attorney General Guideline 4.3001. The full investigation file is disclosed only after an indictment is filed (section 74). This is an important difference: at the hearing you argue on the basis of a partial picture, so what you know completes it.

What can be achieved: closure of the file (lack of evidence, lack of guilt or no public interest), referral to a conditional settlement, dropping of charges or replacing counts with lighter ones, or narrowing the facts. Even when an indictment is filed in the end, arguments heard at the hearing sometimes change how it is drafted.

What a lawyer does: reads the summary of the evidence, identifies the evidentiary and legal weaknesses, chooses what to reveal at the hearing and what to keep for trial, writes the hearing submissions, and represents you at the meeting.

Source in law: Criminal Procedure Law [Consolidated Version], 5742-1982, sections 60a and 74; Attorney General Guideline 4.3001